Carphone Warehouse offers cash-back on iPhone trade-ins

O2 (and its US counterpart AT&T) has come under serious fire over the excessive costs for existing iPhone users to upgrade to the new iPhone 3G S. Despite this being essentially out of O2's control (given that Apple decided to release a 12 month hardware refresh out of sync with the typical 18 month contracts), the carrier really hasn't made much effort to placate its customers.

The only other place you can pick up a new iPhone in the UK is the Carphone Warehouse (though it's essentially still through an O2 contract), which has made some effort to absorb the heavy impact of a 3G S upgrade.

ElectricPig is reporting that the retailer is offering £100 for your old iPhone, or £170 for an 8GB 3G trade in and £180 for a 16GB. True enough, you'd still have to pay your way out of your existing contract, but the cash-back will likely absorb O2's blow and at least put you back to square one for a new iPhone 3G S contract.

Perhaps it's not ideal, but at least the Carphone Warehouse is making some effort to help out tech-hungry customers where O2 is hitting them with up to a £500 bill.

Another plus side to this marketing tact is the possibility of a lot of cheap, pre-owend iPhone 3G handsets for folk who fancy getting a foot on the Apple ladder without forking out too much.